Letters to the Editor: For profits, bishop will forgo integrity

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Though Bishop Richard Malone, as head of the Diocese of Maine, bought a strip mall anchored by a drugstore that sells the “morning-after pill,” he won’t sell property to anyone who will use the property for any purpose related to abortion, a reader says. 2010 Staff File Photo/John Patriquin

Bishop Richard Malone shouldn’t be criticized for diversifying his investment portfolio, but by his recent decision to purchase a strip mall in Portland, Bishop Malone exhibits blatant hypocrisy, even attempting to use a moral theologian to justify his choosing profits over principles.

Plan B, along with birth control pills and condoms, is now sold from Bishop Malone’s property. Plan B is commonly called the “morning-after pill,” and some argue that this pill actually induces an abortion.

Pope Benedict himself encouraged pharmacists “to reflect upon the ever broader functions they are called to undertake, especially as intermediaries between doctor and patient,” when referring to dispensing Plan B and similar medications and encouraging them not to dispense these drugs. Did Malone not get the memo?

A Brazilian bishop threatened those who use Plan B with excommunication. Another bishop even criticized the government plan to distribute condoms. Connecticut bishops noted that the pill “can only act as an abortifacient” if conception has taken place.

A search of the Registry of Deeds, which is open to the public, reveals that Bishop Malone’s hypocrisy is highlighted by a deed restriction he requires for every property he sells in Maine. The restriction prevents the buyer or subsequent owners from using the property “in any way relating to … abortions.” Apparently, this restriction has no consideration for properties purchased by Malone.

This is another example of Malone’s words not matching his actions.

Michael Sweatt

Portland

Scrutinize U.S. gun owners as closely as we do drivers

It is time to treat gun ownership as seriously as we take driving. This means testing, licensing, background checks and being subject to civil or criminal charges for breaking gun laws — just as we are as vehicle owners.

The arguments in favor of unfettered access to firearms boil down to self-protection, sport and readiness to resist our government (a bizarre interpretation of the Second Amendment).

No one is arguing against the right to have a weapon for self-protection if you pass a background check and have a license. No one suggests that you not have hunting rifles — but that you don’t need an assault rifle to hunt. No one is arguing against target practice — merely that you plink with a deer rifle or .22.

In the U.S., 11,000 people are murdered with guns in an average year. Two thousand members of our armed forces have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001. Our cities and schools are four to five times deadlier than a war zone.

In 2008, just 11 people were murdered with guns in Japan — you were 1,000 times more likely to be murdered with a gun here than there. They play the same video games and suffer the same mental illnesses. The difference? They have much greater restrictions on gun access.

I’m not suggesting that we not have guns — just that we take them much more seriously, viewing ownership as a privilege to be earned and that can be taken away, as we do driving. Let us require background checks, close gun show loopholes, ban assault weapons and create and enforce a rational licensing system.

It is time to become a society that rejects the massacre of innocents as an acceptable trade for sport, paranoia or even self-protection.

Jack Flanagan

Cape Elizabeth

How many readers feel their right to drive is threatened by speed limits?

It’s beyond my comprehension why the National Rifle Association and those who subscribe to its thinking are so paranoid about a couple of rules limiting the size of magazines and bullet clips for ordinary citizens.

John Parker

Falmouth

Comic play deftly depicts current political landscape

The Good Theater never seems to disappoint with the art it contributes to Portland, and “Death by Design” is just another example.

Billed as a comedy by murder set in 1932 in a country home, it so reminded me throughout the play of our political landscape today — Mitt Romney versus Barack Obama. The comedy part was Romney; the murder part the tea party (although more alcohol was consumed than tea), and the message was more proof of the 99 percent.

Dorothy A. Tweer

Portland

To prevent gun violence, teach children basic ethics

A lot of suggestions were made recently at the Senate hearings on gun control: nationwide background checks, reinstatement of mental health programs, armed security in schools.

These are good solutions to controlling ownership of a firearm, but we all know that anyone intent on using a firearm illegally will obtain it one way or another.

Not once, in all the gun control conversations in newspapers, news and talk programs, or even in personal conversations, have I heard it said that from early childhood on we should all be taught to not kill people; not commit murder.

This doesn’t have to sound like a Bible verse, although the Ten Commandments do offer excellent dos and don’ts to a good life.

Realizing that there are folks who don’t have religious beliefs, we can still teach our young right from wrong.

We’ve been talked into killing babies in the womb and committing suicide, and that it’s OK. We then go on to commit adultery, lie and cheat, and when caught, and only then, we state how sorry we are!

Teach our children that it is wrong to murder, lie, cheat or steal. Now tell me, what religious, nonreligious, agnostic or atheist individual or organization advocates any of these?

Gayle Trotter of the Independent’s Women Forum thinks all women should possess a firearm.

That’s true! Our law enforcement can’t possibly respond to all the 911 calls they will receive prior or post a weather-related or man-made catastrophe. We will all be on our own. Men and women will need to protect their own.

And, by the way, in my opinion, concealed-weapons permits given in one state should be honored in all states. Protect our Second Amendment!

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